Warm-up event Global Pride 2020 to take place online Saturday, featuring performances by Taiwan's Abao, DJ Dizparity

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/25
By: Sophia Yang, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As business, sports, and entertainment events around the world are halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan on June 28 will host the only Pride parade in the world to take place during Pride Month this year, with a salute to the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march and the first anniversary of Taiwan's legalization of same-sex marriage.

This year, nearly 500 Pride events across the world have been canceled or delayed due to social distancing rules. However, Taiwan is fortunate to be one of the very few countries that have kept the outbreak under control, recording no new local cases for over 70 straight days.

The Taiwan Gay Sport Association (TGSMA) and other local LGBTI rights groups have therefore decided to stick with the plan to celebrate the global Pride family on Sunday (June 28), which coincides with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, at Liberty Square next to the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

TGSMA said participants will be given Pride flags, posters, and signs, on which they can write encouraging words or messages relevant to the parade. The most eye-catching giveaways on Sunday will be Taiwan-made rainbow masks.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/25/2020
By: Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) One new imported case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Taiwan on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 447, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

The new patient is a man in his 60s who traveled to Guatemala in early April for work purposes, the CECC said in a press release.

He sought medical attention in Guatemala after he developed a cough, shortness of breath and musculoskeletal pain on June 1, but he tested negative for COVID-19 twice, the CECC said.

On Tuesday, the man's respiratory symptoms worsened, and he returned to Taiwan the following day, the CECC said.    [FULL  STORY]

VIRUS FEARS EVAPORATE: The first long weekend since the COVID-19 disease prevention measures were relaxed led to the heavy congestion, minister Lin Chia-lung said

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 26, 2020
By: Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

Freeway drivers yesterday experienced heavy congestion on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival long weekend, with some complaining that it took four hours to drive from New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) to Yilan County.

Freeway Bureau data showed that the severest congestion occurred on the southbound lanes of Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway (Freeway No. 5), where traffic had been heavy since Wednesday evening.

The average speed of traffic in the Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道) on the freeway did not exceed 40kph for 30 consecutive hours, the bureau said, adding that this had never happened before.

Most of the traffic was caused by people traveling home and those going on domestic tours, the bureau said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/25/2020
By: Tyson Lu, Kuo Chi-hsuan, Yeh Chen and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Large crowds were seen at tourist spots across Taiwan at the beginning of the four-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday Thursday, following the reduction of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions in Taiwan.

In southern Taiwan's Pingtung, heavy traffic started early in the morning, with roughly 11,000 vehicles heading south as of 5 p.m., local police estimated.

About 100,000 people will visit Kenting scenic area over the first three days of the holiday, the police said, adding that traffic controls will be introduced on Kenting's main street during night hours to keep cars and pedestrians apart.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 24 June, 2020
By: John Van Trieste

The labor ministry has announced that the number of Taiwanese workers seeing their working hours cut has reached 30,505 as of Wednesday. That’s the highest number in ten years.

The ministry says most of the newest workers having their hours cut work in manufacturing. Workers in the fields of metal and mechanical industries and the chemical industry have been affected in particular. The chief factor behind this trend is the impact of COVID-19 on business overseas.    [FULL  STORY]

Proposed legislation would fund a “permanent and persistent land-based integrated air and missile defense and associated weapons delivery system on Guam.”
 

The National Interest
Date: June 24, 2020
By: Kris Osborn

What kind of impact would land-based air defenses, increased intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) operations and more bomber patrols have upon U.S. deterrence efforts in the Pacific theater? Is this question taking on additional relevance and urgency in light of Chinese maneuvers near Taiwan and the South China Sea?

The impact of adding these systems would be both substantial and helpful, according to members of Congress now proposing as much as $6 billion in additional funds for a so-described “Indo Pacific  Deterrence Initiative.” The proposed legislation would fund a “permanent and persistent land-based integrated air and missile defense and associated weapons delivery system on Guam.”

A group of lawmakers, led by House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), are requesting this massive plus up in funding for the Pacific, which also includes increased funding for undersea warfare. Such a proposal for the 2021 budget, while first announced in April of this year, seems to take on even more relevance in light of current Chinese maneuvers near Taiwan and the South China Sea. While the proposed legislation of course does not advocate any kind of provocation or military action, it does call for increased U.S.-allied training exercises and specifically cites a need to deter Chinese hostility. The apparent aim of the initiative, it seems clear, would be to increase peace and stability in the region by virtue of increasing a U.S. footprint in the region.

“These are not all new programs but by pulling them together under one policy we will be better able to judge our own commitment here at home, demonstrate our resolve to our allies and partners, and deter China,” Thornberry said in a “discussion draft” statement on the proposal earlier this year.    [FULL  STORY]

Japanese student tests positive for coronavirus after returning from S. Taiwan on June 20

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/06/24
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday (June 24) confirmed that a Japanese woman tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) after returning from southern Taiwan on June 20.

During a special news conference to discuss the matter, Minister of Health and Welfare and CECC head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said that after being screened for COVID-19 at an airport in Japan, a female student in her 20s tested positive for the disease. He said that she was asymptomatic and is not yet considered a confirmed case in Taiwan.

The woman had continuously stayed in Taiwan from late February to June 20. Currently, 140 people who recently came in contact with the woman in Taiwan have been identified.

Chen said that the woman had been studying in southern Taiwan since late February. While undergoing quarantine in Japan, her test results came back positive for the virus on Monday (June 22), and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan notified the CECC on Tuesday (June 23).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/24/2020
By: Wei Kuei-hsiang, Wang Cheng-chung,
Chen Yun-yu, Shen Ru-feng and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, June 24 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday urged all parties involved in the territorial dispute over the Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea to avoid taking "unilateral actions" that could escalate regional tensions.

The decades-long dispute resurfaced recently after a Japanese city decided to change the administration designation of the islands, and Tsai reiterated Taiwan's claim over the islands while issuing the appeal against destabilizing actions.

The president also repeated her administration's pledge to protect Taiwanese fishermen's rights to operate in waters near the Diaoyutais, which are also claimed by China and Japan, where they are known as the Senkakus.

Tsai made the comments two days after the Ishigaki City assembly voted to change the name of the administrative zone that includes the Diaoyutais, resulting in a protest from Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).    [FULL  STORY]

KAOHSIUNG HOMICIDE: Police appealed for help, asking people to check on older family members, as the victim was killed and dismembered about three days ago

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 25, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The dismembered remains found in two duffel bags along Kaohsiung’s Love River (愛河) this week were yesterday identified as belonging to an elderly man, police said

Two sanitation workers from the Kaohsiung Environmental Protection Bureau found one bag floating in the water while cleaning the river banks on Monday, police said.

They took it to a nearby garbage depot, and then found a similar black duffel bag on the river the next day.

After seeing traces of blood leaking from the second bag, one worker opened it and found decomposing human remains.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 06/24/2020
By: Han Ting-ting, Wu Hsin-yun and Matthew Mazzetta

Taipei, June 24 (CNA) Taiwan will begin allowing foreign nationals to apply to enter the country for reasons other than tourism and social visits starting June 29, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced Wednesday.

The partial easing of border controls imposed on March 19 is based on recent trends in the global COVID-19 pandemic, and to meet commercial and trade demand and humanitarian considerations, the CECC said at its weekly press briefing.

The policy will allow foreign nationals to apply for entry to Taiwan for reasons other than tourism and social visits, the CECC said.

According to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), valid reasons for travel under the new policy will include internships and training programs; attendance at international conferences or trade shows; international exchange programs; volunteering; missionary activities; youth exchanges; and job searching.    [FULL  STORY]